CT, 23 Other States Sue Trump Over New Tariffs After SCOTUS Loss

By Mark Pazniokas, CT Mirror
March 5, 2026

Connecticut, a litigant in the case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the Trump administration’s assertion of broad emergency tariff authority, was back in court Thursday with a larger coalition accusing the White House of once again usurping congressional powers.

Two dozen states led by Oregon, Arizona, California and New York filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade asserting that the administration’s new tariffs suffered from the same legal defect as the ones struck down last month.

“This doubled the size of our group from last time, from ‘Tariffs 1.0.’ And I think we feel similarly confident about our chances in this case,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Thursday afternoon in Hartford.

Having lost over its unprecedented claim that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 empowered President Donald Trump to impose tariffs, the states said in the lawsuit, the administration is wrongly claiming it can do so under another untested law, the Trade Act of 1974.

The same day the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that Trump erred in using the 1977 emergency economic powers act, he used the 1974 law to impose a 10% tariff on most products worldwide. On Wednesday, the treasury announced that rate would go to 15%.

Section 122 of the trade act permits a president to impose tariffs of up to 15% without congressional approval for five months, but only under limited circumstances necessary to address “fundamental international payments problems,” the states said.

The trade act is  “another statute that has never been used to impose tariffs,” the states said in their lawsuit. “Indeed, it has never been used at all.”

In their lawsuit, the states said the Trump administration has abused the limited delegation by Congress of its power to impose taxes, including tariffs.

“For more than a year, the President has imposed, modified, escalated, and suspended tariffs by executive order, memoranda, social media post, and agency decree, without legal authority to do so.”

The lawsuit is the 49th Connecticut has filed against the Trump administration in the 14 months of the president’s second term.

Tong cast the new multi-state litigation as a fight over an esoteric constitutional question over separation of powers that comes with a pocketbook impact on consumers.

“We’re getting crushed and punished by prices across the board, and the president comes over the top and whacks us again with tariffs,” Tong said at a press conference with Treasurer Erick Russell.

Tong and Russell, both Democrats seeking reelection in mid-term elections likely to be influenced over Trump’s stewardship of the economy, said Trump’s trade wars and his attack on Iran are creating economic instability felt at the gas pumps and supermarkets.

“We’re struggling with affordability, trying to make ends meet, and policy — sporadic, erratic policy — that’s coming out of Washington is ultimately having a negative impact as families are trying to navigate this difficult time,” Russell said.

Tong said the 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court encouraged other states to join the new lawsuit.

“Now that we’ve won 6-3, I think people know that the Supreme Court gets it on this issue at least,” Tong said. “And we look forward to the opportunity to make our case before them again.”

This article first appeared on CT Mirror and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.